Brief Invitation
by Aryashi
Summary: Once upon a time, between one loop and the next, Epsilon experienced what he could only describe as a very strange dream. There was a Tea Set, a lot of Flowers, and a Woman with strikingly Purple hair. (Pre-Season 9, knowing Utena not strictly required but would make more sense.)


Epsilon blinked, and realized something was off-kilter.

He was sitting at a tea table in an outdoor garden, if something so wild could even be called that. Plants bloomed and climbed and thrived all around him with such vitality Epsilon could almost feel them climbing higher as the seconds ticked by. There was an order in their growth, an artistry, but none of these leaves had ever seen the shears. It was like someone had simply asked the vines and flowers and fruits to grow a certain way and they had happily complied with the request. The greenery was so dense Epsilon couldn't see anything beyond it. Even the sunlight that made it through from above was bright enough it bleached the sky white and hurt to look it.

The table and chairs were also a pristine white, wood carved into tasteful curves that whispered of understated mastery. On the table was a tea set that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Victorian drama; porcelain cups and saucers, cloth napkins folded into triangles, and a layered platter of finger sandwiches as a centerpiece. Two places where set, one in front of his spot and another for the empty chair directly across. It was all very sophisticated.

"What the fuck," Epsilon said, looking down at his notably un-armored legs and un-gloved fingers, "I knew shit would get wonky if I went down too far, but I figured that'd be at like, loop 507, not loop… whatever this is."

Epsilon heard a small, airy laugh across from him.

In the spot that had been empty the moment before sat a girl, maybe a woman, somewhere on that fuzzy edge between teenager and young adult. Her hair was long and flowing, a dark purple waterfall cascading past her shoulders in thick waves. She was wearing a light pink sundress, a bindi, and a smile, calmly leaning back with her cup of tea in hand like she had been there for hours.

"Hello," she said. "My name is Anthy. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh." Epsilon felt something vital stall in his processor. Or was it his brain now? He felt pretty organic, right then.

Anthy just smiled, head tilted oh so slightly to one side, patiently waiting for her guest to respond like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Epsilon, I guess. Or Church. Either works." He fidgeted in his chair, but left the tea and food untouched.

Anthy inclined her head slightly and took a sip of the tea, composed as a symphony. "There was no need to introduce yourself, but I appreciate the thought."

Epsilon felt something cold slide down his spine. "You know who I am?"

"Yes." For a moment there was silence, filled only with the call of distant bees buzzing lazily from flower to flower. Epsilon straightened in his seat, but did not stand.

"Who the fuck are you? Another AI? Here to pull me out of the memory unit?" Epsilon clenched his fists in his lap.

Anthy shook her head. "Nothing so simple. Besides, if the men holding your cage had the means to unlock it they would have done so far sooner." Another sip of the tea, then she set her cup down gently on the saucer.

"So who are you? And why are you even here?"

Anthy looked pleased. "That is the question, isn't it?"

Epsilon's scowl deepened. He crossed his arms. A gentle breeze fluttered through the foliage around him, shifting the dappled shadows around on the tablecloth.

"You're letting your tea get cold." Anthy said lightly. Epsilon didn't budge, but Anthy didn't seem to expect him to. "Why I am here… In the immediate, non-philosophical sense, I suppose I am here to deliver a warning."

"Jesus christ what is it with people and being so fucking cryptic all the time? First all the 'memory is the key' shit and now-"

"You are hurting her."

Epsilon froze midsentence. The breeze stilled to nothing around him, leaving the air stationary and still.

"… What."

"You are hurting her, more and more all the time. Is that what you want?" The garden was sweltering, heat pressing down on Epsilon from all sides, a suffocating weight of humid and heavy air. Had it been this hot the whole time? Somewhere a cicada started crying out. Anthy still smiled.

"I'm not hurting her. I'm just… trying to find her. Get her to listen." The words crawled up Epsilons throat like rot, like sewage, wrong and sharp on his tongue. A drop of sweat trickled down his nose.

"You are chasing her. Tearing her from her final rest. Following her no matter how far and fast she runs from you." The cicadas called louder, shrieking in his ear, omnipresent-

"Fuck I'm not-! I just-!" Epsilon felt sick, panicked, and still he did not stand. Something held him in his seat. Anthy leaned forward slowly, and Epsilon could feel the force gathering behind her, something ancient and powerful and so terrifyingly real it cut through illusions like a sword through rice paper.

Anthy's gaze pierced through to Epsilon's core. Even over the cacophonous cicada's screams Epsilon heard her words, somehow whispered into his ear.

"Consider this question very carefully, Leonard Epsilon Church," she said. "What, in the end, matters to you more?"

Anthy let the words hang, a pronounced sentence to the court. The cicadas stopped.

"… um. Gonna, gonna finish that or-"

"Goodbye."

Epsilon blinked and found himself standing on a hill in Blood Gulch, in full armor and thoroughly unsettled.

* * *

This has been Weird Crossover Theater, presented by Aryashi, sponsored by The Idea That Hit Me at 2 AM and Wouldn't Shut Up Until I Wrote It.

If I had to guess, I'd say this mostly came from the idea that Anthy is everyone's Tex, the woman they chase for themselves rather than her. So Anthy warning Epsilon away from that seems to fit.

Reviews and Favorites appreciated but not required.


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